Not saying that stepping down to protect his kids is plausible or likely, just interesting.

Trump’s priorities seem to be 1) wealth, 2) adoration of the (his) people, 3) the presidency. I think he only sought the third item to increase the first two. I also think that if giving up the third item on the list allowed him to keep the first two, he would do it.

Well, Trump loses adoration if he resigns. His followers would turn on him. Better for his sense of victimhood to be impeached and removed – or defeated in a “rigged” election – then he can keep holding rallies and stoking the emotions of his angry followers.

Resigning means he chose to quit. Who will want to go to a rally and cheer on a quitter?

Plus, the longer he is in office, the better he is in control of things like who is attorney general, which judges and justices get appointed to the courts, who is pardoned, etc. The day he resigns, he gives up ALL of that. What does he gain? Again, I don’t understand why the justice department would feel it is “getting” something by getting Trump to resign even if it could offer such a “won’t prosecute your family” deal. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

Trump would find a way to frame resignation as a “win” – and his base would buy it.

Just saying that I can imagine a situation where resignation could happen.

I think a bigger question is: could the evidence against Trump become so egregious that 20 Republican senators would flip to convict on impeachment? If so, then resignation becomes a possibility, because I definitely think he would resign before being removed from office.

Sure, if it’s likely that 20 Republican senators will vote to convict in case of impeachment – and Republican senate leadership would cooperate on a trial – then there is a much greater chance that Trump would resign instead. But the evidence would need to be dramatically more convincing than it is now – a dramatic smoking gun. Recordings, videos, whatever.

Think about this: does the evidence of conspiracy to collude with Russia convince YOU that Trump should be impeached and removed? It hasn’t convinced many Republicans; his Gallup approval rating among Republicans is STILL near 90%. What evidence can you imagine that is indisputable that would persuade Senate Republicans they’d need to go along vs. just denying it and pretending it is “fake news?”

Given what we currently know? No, he’s not resigning, and is almost certainly running again in 2020.

Given the trajectory of information we are learning about his campaign, business and political dealings, and what may very well be learned in the next few months…I have no idea how bad things will get for Trump, but they’re looking to get pretty bad. He will be hobbled by the investigations, the results of the investigations, and a Democratic House.

I’m most worried about how, as the walls close in around him, he will lash out. Undeniably impeachable abuse of power? I wouldn’t put it past Trump. Sure, this (or the 2020 election, or something) will eventually purge Trump from the executive branch. But what will the country look like when he’s done? I keep picturing a hotel room after Keith Moon stayed overnight…

I should have added above: if Trump gets to the point where he’s about to be impeached and convicted and resigns instead…doesn’t really make a difference at that point, does it? I don’t see him resigning under any other circumstance, though.

Yeah, it’s a wee bit unnerving to see Trump ridding himself of some of the more level heads around him – Mattis today, Jeff Sessions, John Kelly…replaced by whom? On the other hand, in his first two years, the real threat of impeachment was close to zero; now it’s much higher, even if still well below 100%.

It seems pretty obvious to me now that Trump won’t be re-elected IF the Democrats can nominate someone good, who can win PA, MI, and WI. The economy was as good as it’s going to be in his first term earlier this year – probably will be a lot worse by mid-2020 than now. The most important question for 2020 now is: who will the Dems nominate (and will it be a two person race or more than two?).

I have faith that our country will recover from Trump fairly easily if we get him out in 2020. The fact that Trump has been able to do so little (compared to what I feared) with a Republican Congress has been a great relief, even if some of the things he’s done have been awful enough.